01 February 2013

Review: The Last Dragonslayer

A very Fforde-ian take on the traditional fantasy genre. This is a good thing.

Essentially, there's one dragon left, and it may be why there's still magic in the world, and a lot of the land is blocked off to keep the dragon in and the people out, and a girl needs to track down the reason why there's visions of this final dragon dying at the hands of the dragonslayer.

It feels traditional, and it is in a lot of ways, but because its Jasper Fforde, it's definitely a little off kilter and mostly a good time. It takes a little while to get its footing, but I was able to get pretty into it about halfway through. As a short read, I'm glad I stuck with it, as the payoffs were excellent.

One weird thing, though, is the positioning of this in the US as a young adult book. I get that, with a teenager as a protagonist, it makes sense, and probably since YA is in right now...but it's not a very young adult book at all. It has a very traditional adult feel, and Fforde isn't really a kids writer. Didn't take away from the book at all, but still an interesting note.